Cooking for one

PasturesNew

I've never liked crinkle cut chips; I like fat "steak cut" ones. Years ago, rather than putting them in the oven I used to be able to cook 12 fat steak-cut chips under the regular grill. They're large enough to quickly turn by hand when they're under the grill - something you can do more easily with 12 fat chips than 30-40 dinky ones.

Crinkle cut have a strange feel about them due to the crinkle. They're simply ... "not right...." on the tongue.

karcher

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never liked crinkle cut chips; I like fat "steak cut" ones. Years ago, rather than putting them in the oven I used to be able to cook 12 fat steak-cut chips under the regular grill. They're large enough to quickly turn by hand when they're under the grill - something you can do more easily with 12 fat chips than 30-40 dinky ones.

Crinkle cut have a strange feel about them due to the crinkle. They're simply ... "not right...." on the tongue.

I beg to differ..In my world, when I was young, they were a treat..

Much better than the deep fried in a pan of oil, mainly uncooked but burnt on all sides, homemade variety we got as a rule

Can't beat an uncooked, burnt round the edges, homemade chip

PasturesNew

karcher wrote: »

I beg to differ..In my world, when I was young, they were a treat..

Much better than the deep fried in a pan of oil, mainly uncooked but burnt on all sides, homemade variety we got as a rule

Can't beat an uncooked, burnt round the edges, homemade chip

Egg and chips was often a meal in our house - mum did brilliant chips. She wasn't "much of a cook" and we didn't get much variety, but there were some things that were excellent. The "old school" style stuff. Stew/dumps, toad in the hole, egg and chips were excellent. Chips were cooked in hard stork margarine in a deep fat fryer.

PasturesNew

Well, I thought about it being a long weekend for some time - and this morning was finally motivated to pop next door for a loaf of bread at 8am when the shop opened. Trouble was ...once in there I ended up buying more than I expected.

19p for spuds - seemed a good idea, "potato salad" I thought ... it IS sunny.
36p loaf of bread. Ah, pack of crumpets, always like a crumpet.
Tomatoes - ummed and aahed for awhile. It's sunny, I like tomatoes, I've got bread, I like tomato sandwiches - somehow though I appear to have bought two types of tomatoes (only realised at the till) - when there are many people bobbing around I get confused. Oh well, they last and it IS a long weekend and sunny ....
3 bananas - well, you can always eat a banana ...and it is sunny.
Couple of scotch eggs - you can never go wrong with a scotch egg.
400g of cocktail sausages - they go well in sandwiches!
Pizza, reduced - just a 99p cheese/tomato basic one, a few days left on it, reduced to 70p - that'll be nice hot or cold!
Pot of Coronation chicken, that goes nice in a sandwich.


Got no cheese, but that's a dilemma as it's on special price next weekend, so trying to hold out for that!

Spent just over £6 in the end.

Got spud overload now as that's TWO different sorts of "special offer/cheap spuds" I've bought in the last week!

Came home expecting to make myself a nice cooked breakfast of toast, beans, sausages, scrambled eggs - but once home I couldn't face opening ANOTHER tin of s0ddin' beans, so just had ..... 2 bits of toast with margarine

Toasted 2 pieces; popped 8 slices into airtight containers and the other half of the loaf in the freezer.

Now .. I COULD go to the beach ... but when you think it through as a single you think "pfft". It's not a great beach - and then I'd have to make lots of sandwiches/get drinks together, load it all up, then lug it a mile to put up a little tent and sit there in the tent scoffing sandwiches .... probably being annoyed by loud people and balls around me.... and it's a free ancestry weekend, so I might as well stay in.

Also, it has turned "a little nippy" and the clouds are moving in - so it'd be a right pain in the butt to have gone through all the prep and lugging, just to sit on a windy/grey beach wishing I hadn't bothered.

Mr_Singleton

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd just not wish to expect X, Y and Z and to receive X, A and B - when X only works if it arrives with Y and Z.

Flipping eck looks like an algebra question my maths teacher Mr Greenslade would have been proud of!

[Deleted User]

I have to do online shopping, in a tiny village in the middle of no-where but the upside is that I get to cycle ride in tranquil countryside, lots of caravans on the main road today so am glad to be staying put. Been to the tip and done a couple of jobs here and pretty well, almost, got some food sorted. Picked some rhubarb today and have frozen 5 small portions and kept two for today and tomorrow. Sweetener this time was xyylitol (which is plant based btw) and a bit of agave

Still got those 2 stuffed mushrooms, which were nice but dry so this time am cooking longer and lower in an enamel dish with a foil cover. Taken a small bit of nut roast out of the freezer and I have ample washed veggies.

Hollyharvey, welcome, its all about the work as a singly too, bad enough having to eat but all that extra work and worry about decisions. Friendly ears are guaranteed here plus some welcome wackiness

Chips oh I loved them, every friday as a child and always double cooked. Were always a good standby when the children were here and even now when the grandchildren come but on my own, never, no potato in any shape or form

Think I`ll have sardines sometime today, oh bother, I can`t because I have soup to finish. Yes its about using up rather than wasting

caronc, half a tin of beans work if they are rinsed too, then they are ok even in a salad or a soup

PasturesNew

This morning's been sunny/promising/cheery, then overcast/cool/gloomy - and now it can't make up its mind except to be chilly. Bit of a breeze, I bet the coast will be "bracing".

Glad I didn't load up and get half way there for the weather to turn a bit grim.

I made up two rounds of tomato sandwiches. I love plain, salad tomatoes, sandwiches. Just bread/marg/tomato, no salt (hate salt). So they're ready, in an airtight sandwich box, to either be scoffed if I get randomly hungry .... or grabbed to take to the beach if some bizarre whim enters my head. I could pump up the bike tyres.... not very good with the bike, tyres always seem to need pumping up and the last time I took it out for a ride I was knocked off by a chap who pulled out right in front of me at a junction when I was in plain sight, ending in a swollen knee/bruising for a week. And he just drove off, leaving me in the middle of the carriageway feeling like a plonker. Bent the handlebars too, which still need straightening - have to point the handlebars to one side ... but not twisted them back round as I just put the bike away that day and cried.

Overall, with tyres puncturing, chains coming off and being knocked off, every outing with the bike is a disappointment and so my rule is "never cycle far than you can push the bike home".

caronc

Afternoon everyone,

It's a bit chaotic here with the kids back but good, they are all out for the afternoon so I'll get to put my feet up. It was like something off of these mad makeover programmes earlier as the three of them rattled about the top part of the garden sorting the pots out for me .

For lunch I'm enjoying my annual treat of hotcross bun, strong cheddar and Branston;). I'm not CFO tonight but making a lamb mince and aubergine curry, which is something I would make for myself but tonight we'll have rice and naan with it, usually when it is just I have pitta to avoid leftovers.:)

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

... curry.... rice and naan ... pitta to avoid leftovers.:)

I 'suffer' like that with the extras - on takeaways or DIY or a ready meal.

Given a buffet style I'd have rice and a bit of naan and onion bhaji and bombay spuds.... when it's just one you have to choose ONE and even that's a push!

I appear to be having an Easter scoffathon. Cheese/onion crisps randomly came to mind earlier and I don't have any - so off I went to £land .... crisps.... and sweeties... oops. I had looked earlier in Lidl but they wanted £1.79 for six packs, which I'd never pay, so I'd not bought them.

Oh well.

Had a bag of crisps immediately - and I just scoffed one of my tomato sandwiches.

Hollyharvey

Afternoon everyone


Thank you for the warm welcome.


I am having a real CBA day today. Although I did walk up to the town first thing this morning because I was reading through some posts from yesterday and PN talking about crumpets gave me a real craving for some for breakfast, so off I went to Sainsburys for some. If had of thought about it yesterday I could have added them to my online delivery for this morning, but never mind I really enjoyed two of them with a cup of tea for breakfast. The rest are now in the freezer.


Lunch was scrambled eggs on toast and then three greek yoghurts. For some reason I am really hungry today and they needed using up.


I can't decide what to have for dinner at the moment, but it will have to be something easy. The problem with having just had a food delivery is that I've now got a lot of fresh stuff to choose from.